Method and means for silencing squeaky wooden floors



Sept. 21, 1937.

T. l. LANG 2,093,870

METHOD AND MEANS FOR SILENCING SQUEAKY WOODEN FLOORS Filed July 20, 1932 INVENTOR- Lanny T Irwin Mm)- 6 W ATTORNEY- Patented Sept. 21, 1937 A p 2,93,870:

UNITED STATES PATENT cpl-"lei:

METHOD AND MEANS FOR SILENCING SQUEAKY WOODEN FLOORS Thomas Irwin Lang, Mount Vernon, N. Y.

Application July 20, 1932,.Serial No. 623,572

1'? Claims. (CL, 20-6) My present invention relates to an improvement ing, after the volatile fluid has evaporated away in methods and apparatus for silencing squeaking from the treated edges. finished wooden flooring, and has for its impor- The squeak preventing oreliminating materials tant object, the provision of means and methods when dissolved in the volatile fluid carrier, must 5 for treating the cracks in such flooring whereby of themselves be of a low viscosity and volatility, 5; to provide the edges of the boards adjacent to and with an ability to readily fiow into the cracks of, forming said cracks with a liquid, sound eliminatand spreadalong the edge surfaces of the boards ing or silencing medium, which after evaporatowhich the solutionis applied. tion of the solvent therein leaves a layer of squeak Further, such squeak preventing material, as I eliminating coating on and between the coacting apprehend it, and as it works out in practice, 10 or cojoined board edges. must have two outstanding functions, one of As is well known, wooden floors, especially of which is to be partially absorbed by the pores of hard woods such as oak, and the like, in parquet the wood to act as a lubricant, and the other to or straight laid floors, even if well laid and nailed, remain as a buffer or cushion upon the surfaces tend in time to shrink by drying out, and also to of the treated parts.- v 15 warp, thereby pulling loose from the fastening or In practice I have found that one such solunailing, so that when they are tread upon, annoytion, having all of the abovev desirable features, ing squeaks develop. including the feature of being applicable to wood Subsequent re-nailing of such flooring seldom floors of extremely light color, without stain, is a cures the fault, as in a short time the warped, mixture of benzene or naptha as a liquid vehicle 20 dried out flooring gradually pulls loose again and of low viscosity and readily evaporative qualities,

resumes the objectionable squeaking. and asa common solvent for a squeak eliminating I By my present method, the boards at their mixture of paraflin and liquid rubber.

loose, warped portions, are treated through the Such a solution, has been found extremely cracks thereof, and thereafter, no matter how eflicient for the purpose where the parts of mix- 25 great or imperceptible the spring of the warped ture by volume are as follows; benzene or naptha,

portions, they are completely silenced. two and one quarter-parts, parafiin one quarte These and other capabilities will be apprepart and liquid rubber, one part. hended as the herein description proceeds and The liquid rubber may be made by dissolving it is obvious that modifications may be made in 'caoutchouc in a solvent such as benzol or carbon 30 the formula or the apparatus herein disclosed bisulphide to a point of saturation, when it is 1 without departing from the spirithereof or the then ready for use.

scope of the appended claims. In order to make the foregoing materials into In the drawing, a stainless, non-precipitating solution of suitable .3 Fig. 1 is a side view of the means for applying quality for the purpose herein denoted, the benliquid to a flooring, such means being partly zine or naptha is first heated to the melting fragmented for convenience in showing; point of the parafiin, then the paraffin is intro- Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the crack tracking duced and by stirring or shaking is thoroughly means; dissolved. 4 Fig. 3 is an end view thereof; 4 In denoting benzine or naptha, as the fluid 40 Fig. elis a plan view thereof; and vehicle, it is to be pointed out that carbon bi- Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of a charsulphide, benzol, napthol or carbon tetrachloride acteristic wood flooring of the tongue and groove may also be substituted for the same purpose. type, showing the cracks therein, amplified After the paraifin has been thoroughly inthrough shrinkage. corporated and dissolved, then the rubber solu- 45 In the use of my device and method, I protion is added, and the solution well shaken and vide a thin non-viscous solution of a mixture stirred until it is thoroughly incorporated. The hereinafter tobe given in detail, which when solution after cooling is then ready for applicaapplied to. the exposed cracks H in a flooring Ill, tion to the floor. The mixture as above Outlined Fig. 5, will, by capillarity, and surface tension be makes an amber clear non-staining solution, with carried down into and spread along the adjacent no tendency of precipitation when allowed to edge surfaces of the boards. Such a fluid must be stand. of extremely low viscosity, but must carry suffi- In order to apply my solution to floors, refcient non-volatile material in solution toremaln erence may be had to the drawing, in which, in as asubstantial, residual squeak preven ng coat- F g. there is shown, a solu i n n a e 55 broken at its middle for convenience in showing, in which the fluid solution described is carried.

The lower end of the container 2 is provided with an extended spout 4, and a rubber compression bulb l is attached to the other end of the solution container 2 at 3.

As described, compression of the bulb I, expels an amount of solution through the lower open end of the spout 4, at 5.

In order to locate the open end 5 of spout 4 and to hold it centrally to the crack while expelling solution from spout 4 while drawing the device along a crack, such as ll, Fig. 5, the lower end of spout 4 is provided with a tracking device or extension, generally denoted by 6, Figs. 1, '2 and 3.

In the form shown, the tracking means comprises a curved portion 6, having a curled, spout engaging means 1 which conforms to the diameter of the spout 4 at the point of attachment, and may be soldered thereto, at or adjacent to the angled spout end 5.

At substantially right angles to the curl 1 and at the opposite end of extension 6 is located a right angled bent flange or runner 8, and on its outer edge is a down bent short crack entering flange 9.

As indicated in Fig. 2, the ends of the runner and flange 9 are upturned as at I l-l4 for ease in sliding the attached tracking means to and fro when placing solution in a crack. As indicated by the dot and dash axis line AB, Fig. 3, the spout end 5 is so located in the tracking means that the axis of the spout end 5 coincides with axis AB, so that the crack flange 9 is in central alinement with the open spout end 5 when the device is registered in a crack, so that expelled solution from open spout end 5 is directly introduced in the open crack when the device is positioned as illustrated in Fig. 1, Where the crack flange 9 is shown dotted.

The operation of application of the solution is as follows, the container 2 is filled with the solution, the crack flange 9 entered into a crack, the implement comprised of parts I, 2, 4 and 6 is then moved along the crack to be treated, and, simultaneously, the bulb I 'is squeezed, to expel a continuous discharge of solution from spout end 5 into the crack, where, by capillary action it is immediately drawn into said crack as illustrated by the heavy lines I|-I I, between boards Ill-Ill Fig. 5. In this latter action the solution follows the contours of the tongue and groove contours I2|3, and thus, after the solvent becomes evaporated, the pores of the wood and the faces of the adjacent edges are filled and coated with a lubricant and a squeak silencing cushion, which does not dry out.

The application of the cold solution, to floor cracks at points on the floor where warping and consequent squeaks are developed, is rapid, clean, effective and is far superior to renailing such loose places, because, in time the nails pull loose and the squeak is accentuated.

By the present method and treatment the desired results are economically and permanently accomplished and the residual silencing coating in the cracks and in the pores of the wood remains permanently active.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. A method of silencing floor squeaks in a laid wooden flooring having cracks therein consisting of treating the squeaking portions thereof, through the associate cracks thereof with a solution comprising paraffin and rubber dissolved in a fluid volatile solvent.

2. A fluid for silencing squeaky portions of wooden flooring consisting in volume, of two and one quarter parts of a low-viscosity, volatile solvent fluid, one quarter part of paraffin and one and one quarter parts of dissolved rubber.

3. In combination, a floor having adjacent faces of adjacent boards coated with a mixture of one part of paraffin to five parts of rubber.

4. In combination, a floor having adjacent faces of adjacent boards coated with a dry, nongreasy, cushioning anti-squeak coating including a molecular mixture of paraffin and rubber.

5.' In combination, a floor having adjacent boards and tongue and groove joints between said boards and a dry, transparent, non-sticky, nongreasy, cushioning anti-squeak coating in said joints from top to bottom, and end to end thereof, said coating including a molecular mixture of one part .of paraflin to five parts of rubber.

6. In combination, a floor having adjacent faces of adjacent boards coated with a dry, cushioni-ng anti-squeak coating including a molecular mixture of parafiin and rubber said mixture being free of sticky substances and free of non-volatile oils which would grease the floor.

7. A method of silencing floor squeaks in a laid wooden flooring having cracks therein consisting of treating the squeaking portions thereof through the associate cracks thereof with a solution including paraflin dissolved in a fluid volatile solvent.

8. A method of silencing floor squeaks in a laid wooden flooring having cracks therein, consisting of treating the squeaking portions of said flooring through the cracks thereof with a squeak silencing fluid including rubber dissolved in a fluid volatile solvent.

9. A method of silencing floor squeaks in wooden flooring having tongue-and-groove connections forming cracks, said method comprising introducing into said cracks and allsqueaking portions thereof a fluid solution comprising a low viscosity volatile solvent containing a dissolved non-drying surface coating anti-squeak material,

said solution passing to said portions by capillarity because of said low-viscosity.

10. A method of silencing floor squeaks in a laid wooden flooring having tongue-and-groove cracks therein, said method consisting in introducing by capillarity to the squeaking portions of said cracks, a low-viscosity solution of lubricant and cushioning material dissolved in a low-viscosity fluid volatile solvent.

11. In combination, a floor having adjacent faces of adjacent boards coated with a non-greasy mixture of rubber and a lubricant.

12. In combination, a floor having adjacent faces of adjacent boards coated with a nongreasy, anti-squeak coating including an intimate mixture of parafiin and a cushioning material.

13. In combination, a floor having adjacent faces of adjacent boards coated with a mixture of parafiin and rubber.

14. A fluid for silencing squeaky portions of substance dissolved in a quickly volatile solvent, the proportions being such that the fluid is thin enough to be quickly drawn into a floor crack by capillary action, and the substances are concentrated enough to silence squeak after the solvent evaporates, said fluid being free of dirty, greasy and friction forming materials.

16. A fluid for silencing squeaky portions of wood floors, comprising non-volatile squeak silencing and cushioning substances dissolved in a quickly volatile solvent, said substances comprising about 40% of said fluid, whereby the fluid is thin enough to be quickly drawn into a floor parafiin are concentrated enough to silence squeak 10 after the solvent evaporates.

'I'. IRWIN LANG. 

